Aside from the wonderfully fat tires, I also love the bounty of included accessories. You get fenders, a rear rack, a twist throttle, an integrated front and tail light powered by the battery, and an LCD center-mounted display to show battery levels and other useful data like your speed (no app needed!). As an added bonus, you can bump the max speed from 20 miles per hour to 28 via the display, converting it from a Class 2 to a Class 3 ebike.
Ready. Set. Go!
The ride itself is comfortable. The thick tires help smooth out a lot of the bumps in the road, but it is meant for the road. There’s no suspension system, so avoid big potholes or extremely rocky terrain.
You have five levels of pedal assistance to choose from; I mostly stuck to levels two and three. Anything more wasn’t as fun. I felt no resistance, as though I was pedaling air—even in seventh gear (the highest on the 7-speed Shimano shifter).
The 500-watt rear hub motor is impressive for such an affordable bike. I was able to power through the steep hills of Brooklyn and Manhattan with ease. Having a throttle is handy too, especially when you need to gently navigate narrow spaces with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
What I don’t like is how the motor continues running a few seconds after you stop pedaling. I’m glad I figured this out when testing the bike in an empty parking lot and not when I was coming up to a traffic light. It’s potentially dangerous. At least the Tektro disc brakes do their job well and halt the whole thing reasonably quickly.
Lectric says you can get more than 45 miles out of a charge. That will depend on a variety of factors, like your weight, pedal assistance level, terrain, weather, and more. For me, it was north of 20 miles. It got me to my dentist’s appointment and back, around 12 miles, with juice to spare for other errands. I never felt like I had to charge it after every ride, which is nice.
Long-Term Reliability
Lectric is able to lower its price because of the parts the company uses. The Chaoyang or CST tires that come with the bike and the Tektro brakes are nothing special. That initially had me concerned about long-term reliability, but after six months none of the parts have given me any issues.
If you’re concerned, Lectric says it’s very easy to replace the electrical parts of its bike by using the quick-disconnect plugs everywhere. Its customer service team will walk you through it, and the company has several videos if you just want to follow along. Lectric doesn’t have much of a dealer network, but if you do want to take it to a shop, the company says it’s “happy to locate a local bike shop” to assist with a warranty repair if you’ve owned it for less than a year. (It will provide the shop the necessary parts and cover the cost of the repair.)
You may want to consider a small paint job, too. I don’t like that “LECTRIC” is written in a gigantic typeface on the side of the bike. It just makes the XP a big target for bike thieves. A little subtlety would have been nice.
If stairs aren’t something you have to deal with on a regular basis, and you can lift 63 pounds, this is one of the best and most affordable ways to wade into the ebike world.
